in a clause Th’ estate, th’ array, the number, and eke the cause Why that assembled was this company In Southwark at this gentle hostelry, That hightë the Tabard, fast by the Bell. But now is timë to you for to tell How that we baren us that ilkë night, When we were in that hostelry alight. And after will I tell of our voyáge, And all the remnant of our pilgrimage.
But first I pray you of your courtesy, That ye arette it not my villainy, Though that I plainly speak in this mattére. To tellen you their wordës and their cheer; Not though I speak their wordës properly. For this ye knowen all so well as I, Whoso shall tell a tale after a man, He must rehearse, as nigh as ever he can, Every word, if it be in his charge, All speak he ne’er so rudely and so large; Or ellës he must tell his tale untrue, Or feignë things, or findë wordës new. He may not spare, although he were his brother; He must as well say one word as another. Christ spake Himself full broad in Holy Writ, And well ye wot no villainy is it. Eke Plato saith, whoso that can him read, The wordës must be cousin to the deed. Also I pray you to forgive it me, All have I not set folk in their degree, Here in this tale, as that they shoulden stand: My wit is short, ye may well understand.